National Services Act Implementation

Documents Handed Out
-Briefing on the Water Services Act Implementation
(Appendix A and B)

-Community Water Supply and Sanitation, Programme of the governments RDP

-Zululand Regional Council Reference System

SUMMARY
After a briefing on the implementation of the Water Services Act, the Portfolio Committee requested the Director General to return at the beginning of the next sitting to provide further information on the use of consultants.

MINUTES
The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), was represented by:

Ms Tamie Mpotulo, Chief Director: Water Services

Mr Kalinga Pelpola, Director RDP Implementation and International Donor Co-ordination

Mr Helgard Muller, Director Water Services Intervention and Operations Support

Mr Fred Van Zyl, Director Water Services Macro planning and information systems.

The members of the departmental team went through the presentation on the implementation of the Water Services Act (see Appendix one and two). After the presentations the members were given an opportunity to question the department on its briefing.

The Chair noted that the use of consultants was a big issue of concern, and had been reflected in many of the questions posed by the members. She therefore proposed that the Portfolio Committee request the Director General to make a presentation to the Committee at a later stage on the issue of the use and expense of consultants.

• Main Objectives
• The primary aim is to provision of basic water supply to RDP standards i.e.:
• 20 to 30 litres per capita per day;
• of acceptable water quality;
• within 200 metres cartage distance of a household;
• by means of an integrated and sustainable, people-driven programme.
• A further aim is to initiate a process to ensure access to adequate domestic sanitation.

• Other Objectives
• Provision of jobs for communities.
• Development of skills within communities.
• Assistance in building capacity of communities, e.g. to enable them to manage the ongoing operation of projects.
• Re-orientation of the Department and its agencies to support disadvantaged rural communities.
• Develop and support local authorities to enable them to take transfer of water services infrastructure and to operate and maintain water services.
• Co-ordination of provincial planning through the Provincial Planning Forum.
• Support of Spatial Development Initiatives through provision of water services to development areas, which have high economic potential.

• Community Based Development
• Involvement of PDC /PDI and SMME's with penalties for non compliance
• Programmatic approach for holistic and integrated Planning and Development
• Local Government Support
• Ownership remains with the Public Sector, ultimately the Local Authority

• Various Contractual Approaches Considered
• Selected Build, Operate, Train and Transfer (BoTT)
• Poverty Affiliation Program
• Spatial Development Infrastructure.

These Contracts Allows For :

• Partnership between private and public sectors
• Local Government empowerment
• Community Involvement at all levels
• Responsibilities identified
• Flexibility
• Cost and time controls
• ISD Integrated with construction and operation
• Long Term Involvement of PIA

• Dedicated Team Up front
• Complements Existing Resources
• Integrated Team for all Phases
• from Business Plan through to mentorship
• Developing Expertise with reduced costs with gains shared
• Appropriate designs and systems
• Accelerated delivery

PROGRESS ON THE CWSS PROGRAMME FROM INCEPTION IN 1994 TO THE END OF SEPTEMBER 1999
WATER SUPPLY PROGRAMME
KEY INDICATORS

• Number of People Served - 4,492,489
• Jobs Created
• Total - 281,000
• Woman - 155,912
• Youth - 75,908
• Schemes completed - 198
• Expenditure ( R million ) - R 3,143.83

SUMMARY OF PROGRESS ON THE WATER SUPPLY PROGRAMME

• Number of People Served - 23,600
• Schemes completed - Phase A - 63
• Expenditure ( R million ) - R 9.34

• Certain projects in the Eastern Cape Programme were evaluated
• Findings workshopped with all stakeholders in November 1997
• The following outputs published and incorporated into the implementation of the Programme:
• Policy Review
• Sustainability Guidelines
• Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E)

• There exists a gap between the Department's policies, guidelines and their implementation.
• It was impossible to quantify the common perception that BoTT is too expensive.
• There was an apparent absence of any logic in the selection of projects, which seems often to be unconnected and political.
• Because BoTT programme was a new and innovative programme for the Department, communication links tended to be weak among and between the major stakeholders.
• The funding for BoTT should be flexible.
• One of the major findings was that cost recovery was not the focal point of project implementation.

• Institutional relations between the Department and Local Government at the national, a provincial and local levels were found to be generally weak.
• DWAF's transfer document should be recast to emphasise the need for capacity building and to bring local government transfer policy more in line with the Department 's - particularly the issue of equitable share and how it should be determined in respect of water supply.

• The objective of the conference was to bring various stakeholders together to review the work of the Department in delivering water services over the past few years.
• A total of 470 delegates from these diverse backgrounds attended the conference.
• Research requirements, policy requirements and a best practice guide are being produced from the deliberations at the conference.

• The Revisit Project was initiated in January 1999 following a determination that there were sustainability problems in certain of the Department's water services projects:
• Ad hoc institutional arrangements and overlapping roles. There is a need to formalise WSPs.
• Lack of O & M skills. Communities still highly dependent on outside support.
• Poor water quality in some projects and the perception that it may contribute to poor health in the community.
• Inadequate financial management leading to poor cost recovery.

• Key Challenge is to clear the backlog
• Backlog - end September 1999
• - Water 7.5 million people
• - Sanitation 20 million people
• at current level of prices
• R 7 000 million
• at the current level of MTEF we cannot meet mandate - by the year 2007

• It is necessary to effectively implement the Water Services Act 1997 and the following Policies and Strategies:
• Raising the profile of sanitation
• Integrated Rural Development
• Support - Spatial Development Initiatives to maximise the developmental impact
• Poverty Eradication and Job Creation
• Support Local Government to promote water conservation and demand management
• Ensure sustainability
• Environmental Impact Assessment and Water Quality
• Promote integrated development planning

• Goal:
• to facilitate and create an enabling planning environment to ensure that all people in South Africa have access to efficient, economical and sustainable water services.
• Core functions:
• Strategic planning: (First phase nearly completed)
• Develop and maintain knowledge bases( See examples )
• Develop and maintain national, provincial and area/regional reference systems( 8 provinces )
• Support and facilitate cooperative, participatory and integrated planning( 9 provinces )
• Support and develop integrated strategies on national, provincial, area and local government level( See example )
• Water Services Development Planning
• Facilitate and support water services development planning on local government level (Roll out action initiated , 350 interim plans received, 60 pilot studies)
• Project/Scheme selection and planning (Continues ; reference system developed)
• Development and maintenance of macro information systems (Selective components being developed - Communities, groundwater, projects, infrastructure)
• Help systems ( Costing model, water quality guidelines, starter kits, finance model )

• EXTENDING SERVICES TO UNSERVED AREAS
• TRANSFORMATION AND RESTRUCTURING
• ESTABLISHING FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE
• CONSEQUENCES OF HISTORICAL DECISIONS

• MEETING HIGH DEMAND
• INVESTMENT COSTS
• INCREASING CAPACITY WHILE MAINTAINING / REDUCING COSTS
• ACCESS TO FINANCING

• TO BECOME MORE COST EFFECTIVE
• RETRENCHMENT COSTS
• TRANSFER OF STAFF
• RATIONALISATION

• FIVE-YEAR PHASE OUT OF DWAF SUBSIDIES
• ACCESS TO EQUITABLE SHARE STILL TO BE REALISED
• DWAF BUDGET LIMITATIONS
• ALLOCATIONS LESS THAN REQUESTS
• NEGATIVE PERCEPTIONS IN CAPITAL MARKET

CONSEQUENCES OF HISTORICAL DECISIONS

• OVER AMBITIOUS INVESTMENT CHOICES
• COST RECOVERY ASSUMPTIONS TO HIGH
• LACK OF BINDING CONTRACTS WITH CONSUMERS

IMPLICATIONS

• CONTINUED DECLINE IN FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
• CONTINUED RELIANCE ON DWAF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
• CEASING / CURTAILMENT OF SUPPLY OF WATER

SOLUTIONS

• DWAF PROACTIVELY FACILITATING EQUITABLE SHARE DISCUSSIONS
• IMPROVED COST RECOVERY PROGRAMMES
• PREPAID METERS
• STEPPED TARIFFS
• ENFORCEMENT OF BILLING AND COLLECTION STRATEGIES

SOLUTIONS

Fred van Zyl

Department Water Affairs and Forestry

South Africa

9 November 1999

• To ensure:
• access to basic services
• effective and sustainable water services
• effective water use
• environmental protection
• viable and economical services.

• Knowledge base and common understanding
• Alignment of actions
• Coordination and integration
• Participatory management
• Empowerment
• Integrated reference system
• Common goals and strategies
• Regulatory and management framework
• Monitoring and control.

• 25 l - 14 million
• 200 m - 12 million
• flow - 10.3 million
• resource - 9.8 million
• quality - 7.9 million
• sanitation - 22.5 million

Bring into participation
Unite, bring together, combine

Knowledge base, common understanding and information system

Understanding Water Services

• Querying
• Communication
• Coordination
• Referencing
• Planning
• Integration
• Research
• Empowering
• Training
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Customer service
• Decision making
• Reporting.
• User friendly
• Hardcopy and electronic
• GIS platform
• Individual/Integrated
• Strategic
• National, provincial and regional level.

• Reference systems
• First Order Strategies
• Common goals
• Ownership
• Ongoing and dynamic
• National, Provincial and Regional.

• Key actions:
• checklist (completed)
• guidelines
• starter
• extended
• information system
• integration
• Water services
• DWAF
• IDP

• capture programs
• starter
• advanced
• rollout (350)
• bilateral discussions with Local Government
• area/Regional workshops
• pilot studies (60)
• communication
• newsletters
• progress reports.

• Water quality guidelines
• Costing model
• Finance model
• Groundwater management guidelines.

Elements

• Users
• Groundwater
• Surface water
• Infrastructure
• Projects
• Institutional
• Physical factors
• Economical
• Social
• Environmental
• Financial
• Legal
• Political
• Managerial
• Strategic.